Following Cynthia Nixon's declaration that homosexuality - at least in her case - is a choice, the reaction within the gay community has been strong, swift and mixed.

The harshest rebuke of the Sex and the City star has likely come from celebrity chef Cat Cora, who appeared yesterday on The Talk and said:

"I'm gay, and I was born this way," adding of Nixon's view and how it could impact others: "I really feel like it was dangerous and irresponsible of Cynthia, especially in this environment today when so many young people are taking their lives."

Continued Cora, making a plea to the actress who is currently starring on Broadway:

"I know growing up as a young gay person how much you hate yourself, how much you already think you're different. And for someone to say, ‘It's a choice, you can be this way or that way,' I think it's dangerous and I ask Cynthia to please, reach out to the community and say - to all the people who do hate themselves right now, all the young kids who are impressionable - to say, ‘You're OK, take it one day at a time, it gets better.'"

Nixon has been in relationships with both men and women, but dismisses the classification of "bisexual."

I completely feel that when I was in relationships with men, I was in love and in lust with those men," she told The Daily Beast. "And then I met [girlfriend Christine Marinoni] and I fell in love and lust with her. I am completely the same person and I was not walking around in some kind of fog. I just responded to the people in front of me the way I truly felt."

Finally, in a Huffington Post article, Tracy Baim - editor of the Chicag-based LGBT publication The Windy City Times - writes:

"The bottom line is that those who hate us, want to cure us, or even kill us don't really take the time to understand these nuances.

"Yes, there are some who advocate a 'nature made us this way' argument to help us accept ourselves. But others still try to get gays to suppress their sexuality, or transgender people to suppress their gender identity, no matter how they got that way."

Follow Cynthia Nixon?

Stereotyping it drives me nuts.We get a lot of jlstnaoiurs who just aren't interested in anything other than confirming their preconceived ideas with some evidence' even when the evidence doesn't exist or contradicts what they want to say. Five years after the fact, there are still articles claiming that the number of egg and sperm donors dropped through the floor when the law on anonymity was changed. It didn't the numbers actually went up. If they'd bothered to check the publicly available stats on the HFEA website they'd know this is a non-story but no, bad news is so much more entertaining.Then, and I hate to say it, there are the articles in women's mags who want a very specific story about a grieving infertile couple given hope by a donor and how they had suffered for so long but look there was a happy ending. I know this is what they DO and it's also the kind of story that helps recruit donors, but y'know, it's not the whole picture.

Lovemygaycom•January 30, 2012 11:23

Hey bottom line we are who we are. Stop labeling everything. For gays getting trashed, for gays being bullied, for gays committing suicide, etc be gay be proud be liud be heard but lets not give in to the ignorance. People like Nixon call it a choice and thats her screw it. Lets not define gay by comments of ignorance but by what we feel, believe and know inside our hearts.

summer•January 29, 2012 03:51

I'M SO TIRED OF GAY AND LESBIANS BEING SO DAMN SENSITIVE ABOUT EVERYTHING,SHIT. SHE SAID SHE'S SPEAKING FOR HERSELF,NOT EVERY GAY PERSON IN THE FUCKIN WORLD. AND SHE'S NOT A GAY RIGHTS SPOKESPERSON,YOUR DOING TO HER WHAT YOU DON'T WANT BEING DONE TO GAYS AND LESBIANS AND THAT'S...NOT UNDERSTANDING & BULLYING!!!!

Jen•January 28, 2012 17:58

Surely the nub of the question is: where did Cynthia get this idea that 'gay' is the better word for who she is and 'bisexual' as a choice of label should be avoided? If I had a dollar for every time a lesbian or gay activist has told me that "gay" means all of "GLBT" or "GLB" then I'd be in a bar right now getting hideously drunk. And here all those years of "oh we don't need to mention the bis" comes and bites all those people who joined in that bisexual erasure by the gay community on the butts: you keep telling people that just saying 'gay' is enough to cover the different strands of GLBT, and sooner or later someone's going to start talking like you're right. That gay people might choose to date someone regardless of their gender, and that still makes them gay, cause gay means all of those things. Tackle the biphobia in the gay / GLBT movement, and people like Cynthia might not need to perform the intellectual pirouettes they are pressed into.

Jennifer•January 28, 2012 06:29

The reason the gay population is so sensitive about this topic is because for most of known history they've been beaten, burned, experimented upon, tortured, and locked away in camps claiming to heal them of their immoral, evil ways. Cynthia has the right to voice her opinion but she's being rather cavalier by doing so. If she really chose to be with a woman it doesn't mean she's gay. It just means she's using the progress people who've fought for gay rights have given her to do what she wants. This is ok... but to say its a choice for her and to claim to be "gay" is to slap those very people and their sacrifices in the face because her claim that it's a decision is exactly what they've been fighting against for years. Saying it's a decision is to open the door to all the behavior that hurts while claiming to help.

Linney•January 27, 2012 12:09

@imdeelightfulIt is precisely because some people think like you, that the gay community is reacting so strongly to what Cynthia said! There are really people out there who think being homosexual is something you can someday just snap out of. This causes a lot of frustration and hatred towards gays. Then again, I don't think anything that Cynthia Nixon says will ever change the misconceptions of people. She's not responsible for them.

imdeelightful•January 26, 2012 17:29

What is the big deal? I would think it would be a good thing for those kids who think they are gay and than realize they are not. I have known many people who live a gay life stay and are so miserable. I wonder if they could change their life stay it would be better for them. I am behind Ms. Nixon 100% for saying what she said. I think it may help some kids and grown ups.

Mom•January 26, 2012 12:29

My teenage son is gay. What @Dale is saying is true. That is, unless you are a teenager. The teenage years are similiar for most people, makeup, breakup, tears.... My son is "out" but has decided to wait for a relationship. This does not stop the pure hatred (sp) from people who don't even know him. I have brought him up to respect other peoples difference, but not necessarily agree. I understand some find it a choice, others were born that way. All people do not agree on issues. It is how we handle our differences that set us apart.

Dale•January 25, 2012 19:32

I agree 100% with what abc and TexasTexasTexas said - We all need to stop referring to people as gay or straight or bisexual..who cares ?? it should be a mute point anyway .. we need to treat each other as individuals regardless of who we are attracted to sexually. I don't introduce my friends as.. 'This is my gay friend Rob or this is my straight Dennis' .. I say 'This is my friend Rob,this is my friend Dennis' and we should all be entitled to marry who we want, because we LOVE them.

Abc•January 25, 2012 15:02

Cynthia spoke for herself and nobody else. It's HER truth. Cat and others should stop trying to bully others into saying what THEY want them to say. You speak your truth and allow others to do the same. Nobody should need your approval. Cynthia has been a relentless advocate for gay rights and I admire/appreciate her honesty. Read what she said in it's entirety. I was very impressed with what she said.